The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 356

POLYNESIA is the collective name of all the islands of the Pacific of coral or volcanic origin. These South Sea islands are scattered, isolated, or more usually in groups over a stretch of ocean 7000 m. from N. to S. and 6000 from E. to W.; with the exception of the two chief members of the New Zealand archipelago they are mostly small, and exhibit wonderful uniformity of climate; the temperature is moderate, and where there are any hills to intercept the moisture-laden trade-winds the rainfall is high; they are extremely rich in flora; characteristic of their vegetation are palms, bread fruit trees, and edible roots like yams and sweet potatoes, forests of tree-ferns, myrtles, and ebony, with endless varieties of beautiful flowering plants; their fauna is wonderfully poor, varieties of rats and bats, a few snakes, frogs, spiders, and centipedes, with the crocodile, being the chief indigenous animals; the three divisions of Polynesia are Micronesia, comprising five small archipelagoes in the NW., N. of the equator, of which the chief are the Mariana and Caroline groups; Melanesia, comprising eleven archipelagoes in the W., S. of the equator, of which the largest are the Solomon, Bismarck, Fiji, New Caledonia, and New Hebrides groups; and Eastern Polynesia, E. of these on both sides of the equator, including New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa, ten other archipelagoes, and numerous sporadic islands; the first of these divisions is occupied by a mixed population embracing many distinct elements, the second by the black, low-type Melanesians, the third by the light brown, tall Polynesians; traces of extinct civilisation are found in Easter Island and the Carolines; most of the islands are now in the possession of European powers, and are more or less Christianised; New Zealand is one of the most enterprising and flouris.h.i.+ng colonies of Great Britain; everywhere the native races are dying out before the immigration of Europeans.

POLYPHEMUS, in Homeric legend a son of Neptune, the most celebrated of the Cyclops, a huge monster with one eye, who dwelt in Sicily in a cave near aetna, and whose eye, after making him drunk, Ulysses burnt out, lest he should circ.u.mvent him and devour him, as he had done some of his companions.

POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL, an inst.i.tution for teaching the practical arts and the related sciences, especially such as depend on mathematics.

POLYTHEISM, a belief in a plurality of G.o.ds each with a sphere of his own, and each in general a personification of some elemental power concerned in the government of the world.

POMBAL, MARQUIS DE, a great Portuguese statesman, born in Coimbra; was Prime Minister of Joseph I.; partial to the philosophic opinions of the 18th century, he set himself to fortify the royal power, to check that of the aristocracy, and to enlighten the people; he was the p.r.o.nounced enemy of the Jesuits, reformed the University of Coimbra, purified the administration, encouraged commerce and industry, whereby he earned for himself at the hands of the people the name of the Great Marquis; on the accession of Maria, Joseph's daughter and successor, he was, under Jesuit influence, dispossessed of power, to die in poverty (1699-1782).

POMERANIA (1,521), a Prussian province lying between the Baltic and Brandenburg, with West Prussia on the E. and Mecklenburg on the W., is a flat and in some parts sandy country, with no hills, many lakes, and a large lagoon, the Stettiner Haff, into which the chief river, the Oder, falls; the islands of Wallin, Usedom, and Rugen belong to the province; the main industry is agriculture, princ.i.p.al products rye and potatoes; poultry-rearing and fis.h.i.+ng are extensively carried on; there are s.h.i.+pbuilding, machine-works, sugar and chemical factories; Stettin, the capital, and Stralsund are important trading centres; a university is at Greifswald; the Slavic population embraced Christianity in the 12th century; shortly afterwards the duke joined the German Empire; after the Thirty Years' War much of the province fell to Sweden, and the whole was not finally ceded to Prussia till 1815.

POMONA, or MAINLAND, the largest island in the Orkneys, has a low treeless surface, many lakes, and extensive pasture-land; agriculture has of late improved, and, with stock-raising and fis.h.i.+ng, is the chief industry; the only towns are Kirkwall and Stromness.

POMONA, in the Roman mythology is the G.o.ddess of fruits, who presided over their ripening and in-gathering, and was generally represented bearing fruits in her lap or in a basket.

POMPADOUR, MARQUISE DE, a famous mistress of Louis XV., born in Paris; celebrated for her beauty and wit; throwing herself, though a married woman, in the king's way, she took his fancy, and was installed at Versailles; for 20 years exercised an influence both over him and the affairs of the kingdom, to the corruption and ruin of both, and the exasperation of the nation; she was preceded as mistress of Louis by La Chateroux, and succeeded by Du Barri (1721-1764).

POMPEII, an ancient Italian seaport on the Bay of Naples, fell into the possession of Rome about 80 B.C., and was converted into a watering-place and "the pleasure haunt of paganism"; the Romans erected many handsome public buildings, and their villas and theatres and baths were models of cla.s.sic architecture and the scenes of unbounded luxury; the streets were narrow, provided with side-walks, the walls often decorated with painting or scribbled over by idle gamins; the number of shops witnesses to the fas.h.i.+on and gaiety of the town, the remains of painted notices to its munic.i.p.al life; a terrible earthquake ruined it and drove out the inhabitants in A.D. 63; they returned and rebuilt it, however, in a tawdry and decadent style, and luxury and pleasure reigned as before till in A.D. 79 an eruption of Vesuvius buried everything in lava and ashes; the ruins were forgotten till accidentally discovered in 1748; since 1860 the city has been disinterred under the auspices of the Italian Government, and is now a favourite resort of tourists and archaeologists.

POMPEY, CNEIUS, surnamed the Great, Roman general and statesman; entered into public life after the death of Marius; a.s.sociated himself with Sulla; distinguished himself in Africa and in the Mithridatic War; was raised to the consulate with Cra.s.sus in 71 B.C.; cleared the Mediterranean Sea of pirates in 67-66; formed against the Senate, along with Caesar and Cra.s.sus, the first triumvirate, and in 54 entered into rivalry with Caesar; after a desperate struggle he was defeated at Pharsalia, and escaping to Egypt, was a.s.sa.s.sinated there by orders of Ptolemy XII. (106-48 B.C.).

POMPEY'S PILLAR, a block of red granite near Alexandria, forming a pillar 98 ft. 3 in. high; erected in honour of the Emperor Diocletian, who conquered Alexandria in 296. The name is an invention of some mistaken early traveller.

PONCE DE LEON, Spanish navigator; conquered Porto Rico in 1510, and discovered Florida in 1512. Also the name of a Spanish poet; was a professor of Theology at Salamanca; was translator of the Song of Solomon, and wrote a commentary on it in Latin.

PONCHO, a kind of cloak or shawl, of woollen or alpaca cloth, oblong in shape, with a slit in the centre, through which the wearer pa.s.ses his head, allowing the folds to cover his shoulders and arms to the elbows, and to fall down before and behind; worn by the native men in Chili and Argentina. Ponchos of waterproof are used by the United States cavalry.

PONDICHERRY (173), a small French colony on the E. coast of India, 53 m. S. of Madras; was first occupied in 1674. It was captured by the Dutch in 1693, and by the English successively in 1761, 1778, and 1793, but on each occasion restored. The capital, Pondicherry (41), is the capital of the French possessions in India; has handsome tree-lined streets, government buildings, college, lighthouse, cotton mills, and dye-works. The harbour is an open roadstead; trade is small, the chief export oil seeds.

PONDOS, a branch of Zulu-Kaffirs, 200,000 in number, occupying territory called Pondo Land, annexed to Cape Colony, in South Africa.

PONIATOWSKI, PRINCE JOSEPH, Polish general, born in Warsaw; commanded the Polish contingent that accompanied Napoleon in his expedition into Russia in 1812; was created Marshal of France on the field of Leipzig; covered the retreat of the French army, and was drowned crossing the Elster; his chivalrous bravery earned him the honourable appellation of the Polish Bayard; he was buried at Cracow, and his remains placed beside those of Sobieski and Kosciusko (1762-1813).

PONS ASINORUM (i. e. Bridge of a.s.ses), the fifth proposition in the 1st book of Euclid, so called for the difficulty many a tyro has in mastering it.

PONSONBY, SIR FREDERICK CAVENDISH, military officer; served in the Peninsular War; distinguished himself at Waterloo; lay wounded all night after the engagement; was conveyed next day in a cart to the village with seven wounds in his body; was a great favourite with the army (1783-1837).

PONTEFRACT (16), an ancient market-town of Yorks.h.i.+re, 13 m. SE. of Leeds; has a castle in which Richard II. died, and which suffered four sieges in the Civil War, a market hall, grammar school, and large market-gardens, where liquorice for the manufacture of Pomfret cakes is grown.

PONTIFEX MAXIMUS, the chief of the college of priests in ancient Rome, the officiating priests being called Flamens.

PONTIFICAL, a service-book of the Romish Church, containing prayers and rites for a performance of public wors.h.i.+p by the Pope or bishop; also in the plural the name of the full dress of an officiating priest.

PONTINE MARSHES, a district, 26 m. by 17, in the S. of the Campagna of Rome, one of the three malarial districts of Italy, and the most unhealthy of the three, extending about 30 m. in length and 10 or 11 in varying breadth, is grazing ground for herds of cattle, horses, and buffaloes. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to drain these marshes.

PONTUS, the cla.s.sical name of a country on the SE. sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea, stretching from the river Halys to the borders of Armenia; is represented by the modern Turkish provinces of Trebizond and Sivas.

Originally a Persian province, it became independent shortly after 400 B.C., and remained so till part was annexed to Bithynia in 65 B.C., and the rest const.i.tuted a Roman province in A.D. 63.

POOLE (15), a seaport of Dorsets.h.i.+re, 5 m. W. of Bournemouth; has a trade in potters' and pipe-clay, with considerable s.h.i.+pping.

POOLE, MATTHEW, English controversialist and commentator, born at York, educated at Cambridge; became rector of St. Michael le Querne in London, but was expelled from his living by the Act of Uniformity 1662; retiring to Holland he died at Amsterdam; besides polemics against Rome he compiled a "Synopsis Criticorum Biblicorum," containing the opinions of 150 Biblical critics (1624-1679).

POONA (160), 119 m. by rail SE. of Bombay, is the chief military station in the Deccan, and in the hot season the centre of government in the Bombay Presidency; with narrow streets and poor houses, it is surrounded by gardens; here are the Deccan College, College of Science, and other schools; the English quarters are in the cantonments; silk, cotton, and jewellery are manufactured; it was the capital of the Mahrattas, and was annexed by Britain in 1818.

POOR RICHARD, the name a.s.sumed by FRANKLIN (q. v.) in his almanacs.

POPE (i. e. Papa), a t.i.tle originally given to all bishops of the Church, and eventually appropriated by Leo the Great, the bishop of Rome, as the supreme pontiff in 449, a claim which in 1054 created the Great Schism, and which a.s.serted itself territorially as well as spiritually, till now at length the Pope has been compelled to resign all territorial power. The present Pope, Pius X., is the successor of 258 who occupied before him the Chair of St. Peter.

POPE, ALEXANDER, eminent English poet, born in London, of Roman Catholic parents; was a sickly child, and marred by deformity, and imperfectly educated; began to write verse at 12 in which he afterwards became such a master; his "Pastorals" appeared in 1709, "Essay on Criticism" in 1711, and "Rape of the Lock" in 1712, in the production of which he was brought into relations.h.i.+p with the leading literary men of the time, and in particular Swift, between whom and him a lifelong friends.h.i.+p was formed; in 1715-20 appeared his translation of the "Iliad," and in 1723-25 that of the "Odyssey," for which two works, it is believed, he received some 9000; afterwards, in 1728, appeared the "Dunciad," a scathing satire of all the small fry of poets and critics that had annoyed him, and in 1732 appeared the first part of the famous "Essay on Man"; he was a vain man, far from amiable, and sometimes vindictive to a degree, though he was capable of warm attachments, and many of his faults were due to a not unnatural sensitiveness as a deformed man; but as a poet he is ent.i.tled to the homage which Professor Saintsbury pays when he characterises him as "one of the greatest masters of poetic form that the world has ever seen" (1688-1744).

POPISH PLOT, an imaginary plot devised by t.i.tUS OATES (q. v.) on the part of the Roman Catholics in Charles II.'s reign; in the alleged connection a number of innocent people lost their lives.

PORCH, THE, the name given to the school of ZENO (q. v.), so called from the Arcade in Athens, in which he taught his philosophy, a "many-coloured portico," as decorated with the paintings of POLYGNOTUS (q. v.).

PORCUPINE, PETER, a pseudonym a.s.sumed by WILLIAM COBBETT (q. v.).